Compare AdAway vs. Control D

AdAway is a free and open-source ad-blocking application for Android that utilizes the host's file for its functionality. This software is fully open and adheres to the GPLv3+ licensing. Users can effortlessly incorporate their own sources of host files. Additionally, it allows for the inclusion of exceptions via a whitelist, a blocklist, and rules for redirecting traffic. It is important to note that AdAway may not function properly on mobile networks such as 3G. To resolve this issue, users can disable the proxy by accessing their chosen APN and clearing the proxy field. As a potential workaround, enabling the local webserver in AdAway’s settings is recommended. Users can also enhance their experience by adding redirection lists to their host sources, which can help reroute blocked DNS requests to the appropriate IP addresses in China. This particular host source includes redirection rules for various popular platforms like Google and Facebook. Furthermore, for devices that are running versions older than Android 8 Oreo, it is advisable to download and use version 4 of AdAway for optimal performance. This ensures that older devices can still benefit from effective ad blocking.

Control D is a customizable DNS filtering and traffic redirection platform that leverages Secure DNS protocols like DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-QUIC, with support for Legacy DNS. With Control D you can: block malicious threats, block unwanted types of content network wide (ads & trackers, IoT telemetry, adult content, socials, and more), redirect traffic using transparent proxies and gain visibility on network events and usage patterns, with client level granularity. Think of it as your personal Authoritative DNS resolver for the entire Internet that gives you granular control over what domains get resolved, redirected or blocked.